


Furry Little Problem

by hobbit_hedgehog



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Marauder's Era (Harry Potter), Marauders, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-14
Updated: 2015-01-14
Packaged: 2018-03-07 12:09:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3173384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hobbit_hedgehog/pseuds/hobbit_hedgehog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James, Sirius and Peter notice Remus disappears from Hogwarts every month, but don't know why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Furry Little Problem

**Author's Note:**

> This is my entry for my Quidditch team's 2014 fanfic-a-thon! Enjoy!

James Potter was no idiot. Oddly arrogant for a twelve year old, sure, but not an idiot. Ever since he had become friends with Remus Lupin a year before, James had known something was up with the quiet, shy Gryffindor. The kid had worn second hand robes and had dark circles under his eyes, uncommon for a young boy. His brown hair seemed matted and something about his appearance drew James, and by proxy Sirius, to the mousy boy. It had taken the better part of several months for Remus to accept James and Sirius's friendship, but he eventually came around. James knew that Remus had been weary at first given his and Sirius's reputations to be somewhat rude, but with the acceptance and presence of Peter Pettigrew, Remus eventually came around. Still, that didn't mean that Remus was comfortable with sharing information with the trio. For one week every month, Remus would disappear from Hogwarts. Upon returning, he had a million and one excuses as to why he had vanished, none of which made my sense to James.

"There is no way his mother is that sick all the time," James groaned one evening as he, Sirius and Peter loafed around the Gryffindor common room.

"Well, Remus was telling me that there are muggle illnesses that wizards pick up on occasion," Peter supplied, trying to seem knowledgeable to his two friends.

"Yeah, but we're wizards and so are his parents," Sirius argued. "They'd know how to fix some stupid muggle illness no problem."

Peter seemed to deflate a bit, his ego bruised. James made a noise before flopping down dramatically onto the couch.

"Illness doesn't make any sense though," James muttered. "Besides, haven't you noticed how pale he looks whenever he gets back? He always looks like he was on the receiving end of a really bad hex."

"Cuts and scrapes and everything," Sirius agreed, sitting against the couch so that he was perpendicular to James.

"Maybe his family situation isn't a good one," Peter mumbled.

"Nah, I think his family situation is pretty good considering whatever his secret is," James said with a wave of dismissal. "Besides, he always seems to disappear around the full-..."

James sat bolt upright, startling his two friends. He threw a quick, nervous glance around the room before leaping to his feet. Before Sirius could open his mouth to question James, James had gripped Sirius by the front of the shirt and hauled him to his feet. James then grabbed Peter and forced his two friends towards the boys' dormitories.

"James, what the hell-?" Sirius began.

"Not another word until we're upstairs and no one can eavesdrop on what we're saying," James hissed under his breath, pushing his two friends ahead of him.

Sirius grumbled under his breath about the rough treatment, but otherwise said nothing as James manhandled Sirius and Peter up the stairs into the second year boys' room. Once inside, James locked the door and immediately flew to his trunk and kicked it open. He crouched and began to dig around inside of it, searching for something.

"Alright James, what's gotten into your head?" Sirius asked, annoyed.

"Yeah, you kind of wigged us out back there," Peter agreed.

"Ok, it's just a hunch of mine, so bear with me," James began, withdrawing from the trunk with a book in hand. "Remus comes to school looking like he's spent the better part of his life homeless right?"

"I mean, I guess," Sirius admitted with a frown. "That's one rather rude way of putting it, but I see what you're getting at."

James ignored his friend as he continued, "Remus then refuses to make contact with people for several months other than with Dumbledore, Pomfrey and the other professors. He avoids people like the plague until we finally start to get him to hang out with us. And even then, he's quick to avoid answering questions about his childhood and on top of that, he disappears once a month."

"Right," Peter said uncertainly.

"We already knew all of that James," Sirius huffed.

"Bear with me," James snapped. "So, he disappears continuously and refuses to see us over the summer. Once we get back, he continues with the lame excuses and disappearances. Well, he really only disappears around one particular time each month: When there's a full moon."

James went quiet, staring at his two friends, waiting for them to understand his words. Peter looked confused and Sirius looked outright incredulous. It was several minutes before anyone said anything and it was Sirius who finally broke the silence.

"What are you suggesting James?" Sirius asked, his voice icy yet cautious.

"You know exactly what I'm suggesting," James said, his voice barely above a whisper as he opened the book in his hands.

"Damn it James, this isn't a joke," Sirius snapped, his eyes glowing with rage. "This is a very serious thing to accuse someone of."

"I'm not accusing him of anything," James retorted as he flipped through the book. "I'm just saying that it makes sense for Remus to be a-."

"Don't say it," Peter whispered.

"Don't be stupid," James all but shouted, holding up the page he was looking for. "Our friend is a-."

"A werewolf?" Sirius finished for James, the anger on his face being replaced by something James couldn't read.

"Yes," James said hesitantly.

The room went silent once more as the three friends stood and stared at one another.

"James," Sirius whispered, "you have to realize that this is a huge deal. If what you think is true is actually true, then you need to realize that puts Remus in a really dangerous position. For one, we're his only friends. If we ask him about this and we're wrong, we run the risk of offending him at a minimum, losing him as a friend at maximum. If we're right, he may never speak to us again for fear of us using that against him. Something like that can ruin a person if the wrong people were to find out."

"You mean that rat Snivellius?" James spat out the last word with intense disgust.

"That's exactly who I mean," Sirius replied.

"But we would never do that to Remus," James insisted. "Surely he'd know that?"

"We don't know that for certain," Sirius replied. "Look, if we do ask him about this, we need to do it in a way that won't make Remus uncomfortable. We need to show him that we're his friends no matter what. We need to prove that we are loyal friends and that we care about him."

"Agreed." James said after a minute of consideration.

"We need to give him some space when he gets back, he'll be jumpy and he'll avoid talking to us about it if he can," Sirius said, his voice barely above a murmur. "We can't corner him either, so it'll have to be in a neutral spot where he has an escape route in case of panic. Agreed?"

"Agreed," James repeated, setting the book down.

"Peter?" Sirius asked, turning to the quiet boy.

"Agreed," Peter replied with a nod.

~~

It was another two months before the trio finally approached Remus about him being a werewolf. The three swore that they would have done it sooner, but it was never the right time. When the three found out that Remus would be staying at Hogwarts for the Christmas break, they leapt at the opportunity to stay behind with him. James and Peter had to convince their parents that staying behind was a good idea while Sirius hadn't even bothered to tell his parents.

"It's not like they'll care," Sirius had said over breakfast one day. "They hate having me home anyway."

Regardless of the reasons, Remus seemed happy that his three friends would be spending the holidays with him. Given the lack of other students and a majority of the faculty, the four found that they had near limitless freedom. The four friends wandered the near empty halls together endlessly, looking for secret passageways and other hidden locations. James's proudest moment was when they managed to steal one of the spare snitches from the Quidditch supply closet. Sirius's proudest moment was when they found the hidden tunnel to the basement of Honeydukes. Peter's proudest moment was when they figured out how to get into the kitchens. And Remus's proudest moment was when the four of them stayed up until the early hours of the morning stargazing on the roof of the astronomy tower.

Still, all good things had to come to an end and as the full moon approached, Remus began making excuses as to why he had to leave.

"My mum's ill again," Remus said one night, throwing his clothes into his trunk. "I have to go home immediately."

"There's no way the Hogwarts Express is running now," Sirius retorted, arms crossed as he leaned against the doorway.

"Not taking the Hogwarts Express," Remus muttered. "Dumbledore's arranged a portkey for me."

"Remus, we need to talk," James muttered as he stood behind Sirius, his voice hesitant.

Remus froze in his packing, his frame tense as he slowly turned his head towards the door, "Talk? About what?"

James held his breath. His eyes slid to Sirius, then Peter before finally resting on Remus. The breath left him and James opened his mouth to speak.

"Remus, we know," Peter blurted out before James could phrase the exact same sentence in a slightly more delicate way.

Remus's head snapped towards Peter, his eyes wide with fear as he whispered, "What did you say?"

"We found out about your ummm… 'furry little problem'," Sirius mumbled, not making eye contact with Remus.

Remus was on Sirius in a flash. With a snarl, he grabbed the black haired boy by the collar and slammed him into a bedpost. James and Peter gave a shout of surprise and raced forward to grab Remus, but stepped back when Remus pulled his wand on them. Turning back to Sirius, Remus jammed the tip of his wand against Sirius's throat.

"Remus," James said with his hands raised. "Please put the wand down. We can explain."

Remus remained quiet for a moment, eyes cold as he glared at Sirius. Finally he muttered, "Close the door. Now."

James almost missed his friend's command, but snapped to attention once Remus's words registered. He smacked Peter and Peter jumped. James jerked his head towards the door and Peter scrambled towards it, shutting and locking the door before returning to James's side. Placated, Remus released his hold on Sirius and Sirius backed towards James and Peter. Remus crossed his arms and glared at the three.

"Ok, talk," Remus hissed. "How did you find out?"

"We just kind of guessed," James muttered, embarrassed.

"How?" Remus prompted.

"Remus, you disappear once a month every full moon. Your name is pretty much Moonie McMoon Moon. I bet when you learn how to cast a patronus it's going to be a wolf. It wasn't that hard to figure it out," Sirius replied, his voice laced with humor.

Remus's lip twitched like he was about to smile and Sirius beamed at him. James smacked Sirius on the arm and stepped towards his friend.

"When did you find out?" Remus asked, his voice small.

"About two months ago," James replied. "You had vanished to where ever you go when you… you know… and we were complaining about how you just vanish on us and how much we missed you."

"I see," Remus muttered. "And I suppose that you guys aren't going to want to be friends with me anymore?"

"Where'd you get that dumb idea from?" Sirius scoffed, earning him another smack on the arm from James.

"Oh come off it guys," Remus snorted. "I'm dangerous. The minute your parents find out, they're going to be calling for my expulsion. No one's going to want their kids to be hanging out with a were-…. someone like me…"

"Remus," James began only to be cut off by Remus.

"No no, it's completely understandable," Remus sighed. "Just promise me that you won't tell anyone. I just want a normal life at Hogwarts. It's already bad enough that I'm the cause of the Shrieking Shack rumors, I don't need students to know the truth."

"Wait, you're the angry spirit of the Shrieking Shack?" Sirius asked, perking up.

"Mate, if you don't stop-…" James hissed.

"Don't worry about it James," Remus said. "It is pretty funny once you think about it. It's not some angry ghost, but a little boy with a… 'furry little problem'."

"Makes it sound like you have a poorly behaved rabbit," Sirius muttered.

"Your words, not mine," Remus reminded Sirius. "Anyway, I guess I'll leave you guys alone forever now."

"Not so fast," James said, holding his hand up to stop Remus from moving.

"I suppose you're blackmailing me?" Remus asked after staring at James for a moment.

"You need to let me talk mate," James snapped, annoyed with his friend. Once he was sure he had Remus's full attention, James continued, "Yeah, we know about your condition, but honestly, did we once say that we didn't want to be your friends? You're one of us Remus, you're our friend no matter what. When we found out, the first thing we did was agree to never turn our backs on you. Sirius and I worked hard to make you our friend, we're not giving up on you. Werewolf or not, you're a Marauder."

"Marauder?" Sirius, Remus and Peter asked in unison.

"Yeah, I just came up with it, now shut up," James snapped. "My point being, you're our friend no matter what. And friends stick together. We're not abandoning you just because of your 'furry little problem'."

Remus stared at James for a full minute before launching himself at the dark haired young man. James caught Remus in his arms and held the sobbing young man. James motioned with his head for Peter and Sirius to join the group hug. Peter readily joined the hug, squeezing James and Remus tight. After a few glares from James, Sirius relented and joined the hug. The four stood like that for a minute while Remus continued to sob. Once he had calmed his sobs to hiccups, Remus pulled away from James.

"I've never had friends who were willing to stand by me after my accident," Remus admitted. "This is intensely overwhelming, but I can't thank you guys enough. I really can't."

"That's what friends are for Remus," James said, ruffling his friend's shaggy hair.

"And friends stick together," Sirius added, "as cliché as that sounds."

Remus laughed and hugged his friends once again. The friends returned the hug, the bond between the four boys strengthened. Remus knew from that day on, he had friends he could count on.


End file.
